GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
A profile of Italian Working papers in RePEc
Rosa Di Cesare, Daniela Luzi,
Marta Ricci, Roberta Ruggieri
Istituto di Ricerche sulla Popolazione e le Politiche Sociali
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
Index
• What is RePEc?
• Why RePEc?
• Which type of analysis?
• Which results?
• Which conclusion?
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
What is RePEc
Informal organisation of economistsInterconnected network of interoperable archives
Eclectic mix of participants: commercial and academic publishers
Access to: journal articles, working papers, book, book chapters, software components
Freely available web-based services
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
ObjectivesPremises
Major contributors: Economics institutions
• use a common bibliographic template and data exchange protocol;• remain the owner of their data (management, selection, updating …)
• take advantage of RePEc services to increase their visibility and impact within an international scientific community
Institutions’ active involvement
Profile of Italian Economics institutions
and their WP production
Use of Institutional repositories and websites to
diffuse scientific content
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
Methods
Sources Analysis
Working papers
Italian GL providers & Top 25%
Institutional repositories
Local Websites
Availability of:• RePEc series• Other WP series• Other GL documents
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
RePEc Italian Working papers in an international context
WPs in RePEc by Countries
Online WPs by main European countries
France6.6%
Germany15.5%
Italy4.2%
Others55.0%
Spain4.8%
United Kingdom13.9%
84.7
80.7
87.3
96.2
80.3
70.0
75.0
80.0
85.0
90.0
95.0
100.0
France Germany Italy Spain UK
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
Italian institutions participating in RePEc & Top 25%
Source: Edirc, July 2010
Universe of information providers
Best ranked
providers
Provider
TOP 25% INSTITUTIONS
No. % No. %
University department 130 35.2 45 51.1
University centre 82 22.2 10 11.4
University faculty 51 13.8 20 22.7
Research centre 31 8.4 8 9.1
Foundation 22 6.0 4 4.5
International organization 8 2.2 1 1.1
Governmental institution 13 3.5 -- --
Association & Society 32 8.7 -- --
Total 369 100.0 88 100.0
Government4%Foundations
6%
Research centers 8%
Association & Society
9%
University faculty14%
International organizations
2% University Departments
35%
University centers22%
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
WP series and their “vitality” 1)
Provider
RePEc series Live Dead
No. % No. % No. % University department 41 58.6 37 90.2 4 9.8
University centre 9 12.9 9 100.0 -- --
University faculty -- -- -- -- -- --
Research centre 14 20.0 12 85.7 3 14.3
Foundation 4 5.7 4 100.0 -- --
International organization 2 2.9 1 50.0 1 50.0
Total 70 100.0 63 90.0 7 10.0
Note: 50% of WP series
are provided by the Top
25%
Stable and continuous
production
Higher stability and continuity in the Top 25%
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
Provider Live RePEc series Young New-born No. % No. % No. % University department 37 58.7 4 6.3 1 1.6
University centre 9 14.3 2 3.2 -- --
University faculty -- -- -- -- -- --
Research centre 12 19.0 1 1.6 3 4.8
Foundation 4 6.3 -- -- -- --
International organization 1 1.6 -- -- -- --
Total 63 100.0 7 11.1 4 6.3
Provider Live RePEc series Young New-born No. % No. % No. % University department 64 58.7 8 7.3 3 2.8
University centre 11 10.1 1 0.9 1 0.9
University faculty 2 1.8 -- -- -- --
Research centre 18 16.5 1 0.9 4 3.7
Foundation 4 3.7 -- -- -- --
International organization 8 7.3 1 0.9 -- --
Governmental institution 1 0.7 -- -- -- --
Association & Society 1 0.9 -- -- -- --
Total 109 100.0 11 10.1 8 7.3
WP series and their “vitality” 2)
Slight difference between the two
groups
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
Italian Working papers in RePEc
Provider
Number of series
Number of WPs
Series’ average weight
Annual average
contribution University department 77 6671 86.6 11.7
University centre 14 1542 110.1 15.0
University faculty 3 140 46.7 4.2
Research centre 21 1651 78.6 11.0
Foundation 4 1380 345.0 37.3
International organization 23 614 26.7 4.5
Governmental institution 1 18 18.0 18.0
Association & Society 2 73 36.5 9.1
Total 145 12089 83.4 11.6
Provider
Number of series
Number of WPs
Series’ average weight
Annual average
contribution University department 41 4573 111.5 12.5
University centre 9 1305 145.0 15.5
University faculty -- -- -- --
Research centre 14 1496 106.9 14.4
Foundation 4 1380 345.0 37.3
International organization 2 58 29.0 5.3
Total 70 8812 125.9 14.6
Note: 8812 WPs out of 12089 are
produced by Top 25%
institutions = 73%.
• High average of number of WPs for each series
• Average number of WPs per year comparable with journal issues
Both values increase in
the Top 25%
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
RePEc Series in IRs and websites
Temporal coverage
Availability of RePEc WP series in IRs and websites 22.9 77.1
55.7 44.3
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
IR
Web
yes no
6.7 13.3 46.7 33.3
52.9 21.4 15.7 10
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
IR
Web
same larger partial unverifiable
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
Other WP series and/or GL in IRs and/or websites
22.9 77.1
11.4 88.6
55.7 44.3
42.9 57.1
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Other WP in Web
Other WP in IR
Other GL in Web
Other GL in IR
yes no
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
Conclusions
Top 25% institutions produce 73% of the total number of WPs;
IRs do not represent a preferential channel of WP diffusion
• A few RePEc series;• Incomplete temporal coverage;• Scarce visibility of WP series;
Websites mirror well the scientific production
• Good correspondence with RePEc series & temporal coverage;• Variety of GL documents
WPs positively influence the evaluation of institutions
• Academic institutions are the major RePEc participants;• University and Research centres are the core of the Top 25%;
WPs series represent providers’ research activities on a stable and regular basis
• The majority are live, current series;• They contain a high number of WPs;• Average number of WPs per year similar to journal publication
GL12 Transparency in Grey Literature, Prague, 6-7 December 2010
Some final remarks …
ISSUE
• How success ingredients can be transferred to other scientific context?• How they can be combined to foster Open access?
Further Research
RePEc success based on:• Voluntary collaboration with important Economic institutions• Critical mass of documents (WPs considered as research documents)• Interoperability
IRs compared with disciplinary repositories are still not fully representing the institutions’ scientific production